BOROUGH OF POOLE

ECONOMY OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE

3 MARCH 2011

REPORT OF THE HEAD OF PLANNING AND REGENERATION SERVICES ON

REVISIONS TO POOLE HARBOUR AQUATIC MANAGEMENT PLAN

1.Purpose of the Report

1.1To inform Members of revisions to the adopted Poole Harbour Aquatic Management Plan 2006.

2.Recommendation

2.1That Members of Economy Overview and Scrutiny Committee agree the changes to the Poole Harbour Aquatic Management Plan andrecommend to the Portfolio Holder for Planning and Regeneration to approve the changes.

3.Background

3.1The Poole Harbour Aquatic Management Plan was adopted in 2006 by the partner organisations with responsibility for the marine and coastal environment of the Harbour. It provides the framework for the effective, co-ordinated management of the harbour and the Poole Harbour Special Protection Area (SPA). It serves as the Management Scheme for the European Marine site as set out in The Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2010. It also covers the present and future needs of nature conservation, recreation and commercial use and other legitimate interests in the Harbour. There is a long history of managing the Harbour regime and the management of the Harbour is held up as a best practice example of organisations working together to manage a marine environment.

3.2Members will be familiar with the international nature conservation value of the Harbour and the responsibilities that come with it and the 2006 plan was the first time that a Management Scheme had been prepared for the European Marine site. The community, particular those who take part in activity close to the Harbour or within it, will be aware of the zoning plan for the Harbour which has been in operation since 1994 when the original Poole Harbour Aquatic Management Plan was adopted. The Plan can be viewed at

3.3The Plan contains a management matrix of actions for partners to undertake in order to primarily meet the requirements of the Management Plan for the European Marine site. A number of these actions have been implemented and together with the changing legislative framework for the Marine and Coastal environment the Poole Harbour Steering Group considered it appropriate to update the Plan to ensure that it was still fit for purpose.

4.Changes to the Plan

4.1Most of the changes are fairly minor and relate to updating the legislative situation that has occurred since 2006, including reference to the adoption of Poole Core Strategy. The most notable change is the amendment to one of the objectives of the Plan from ‘To promote the sustainable and wise use of the Harbour for commerce, recreation and amenity’ to ‘To educate all Harbour users of the sustainable and wise use of the Harbour for commerce, recreation and amenity’. This presents a stronger and proactive approach than the previous wording.

4.2The area that has undergone the most change is Chapter 7 Managing the Shoreline which has been rewritten. Whilst there is no overall change in emphasis the chapter has included more detail relating to:

  • the effects of climate change e.g. predicted sea level rise and its implications for land and property around the Harbour
  • Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management and explaining the responsibilities of the different agencies i.e. Environment Agency who are the principal flood risk management operating authorityand Local Authorities who have a Coast protection role
  • The Shoreline Management Plan 2 for Poole and Christchurch Bays which was adopted by Council last year

4.3The main changes to the Plan are explained in Appendix A.

5.Conclusion

5.1The management of Poole Harbour is a long standing and successful partnership between the statutory agencies who have responsibility for the Harbour. The Aquatic Management Plan provides the framework for this and the changes proposed maintain the positive approach to balancing the various competing uses in the harbour.

Stephen Thorne

Head of Planning and Regeneration

Contact Officer: Luke Bennett, Trainee Planning Officer

Tel 633062

APPENDIX A

Key Changes to Poole Harbour Aquatic Management Plan

Poole Harbour Aquatic Management Plan (2006) Update

Legislation

The 2006 document refers to The Conservation (Natural Habitats etc) Regulations 1994. These regulations have since been updated and all references throughout the document have been changed to The Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2010.

The introduction of the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) under the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 has since come into place and this has replaced references to the Marine Bill and the Marine Consents and Environment Unit (MCEU) throughout the document.

Objectives

Objective 4 has been changed from:

To promote the sustainable and wise use of the Harbour for commerce, recreation and amenity, to:

To educate all Harbour users of the sustainable and wise use of the Harbour for commerce, recreation and amenity.

Core Strategy

In Section 5.2 Local Plan and Policies and Section 12.4 Port Services a reference to the Poole Core Strategy has been made.

Maps

Figure 2 has been updated and changed from a map showing Bird Sensitive Areas, shellfish leasebeds and zones sensitive to anchorage, to, a map showing the intertidal habitats and Bird Sensitive Areas of Poole Harbour.

Chapter 5 – Nature Conservation & Landscape

There have been various changes to Chapter 5 of the document, the most notable of which are as follows:

Section 5.8.4 – reference made to the Poole Harbour Monitoring Strategy produced by Footprint Ecology in February 2009.

Section 5.8.5 – Bird Sensitive Areas input rewritten to refer to new figure 2.

Section 5.9.2 – description added of the conservation benefits of controlled grazing.

New Section 5.13 – a section on the lagoon at Brownsea Island has been added, hence, the numbering for this chapter has changed from this point on.

New Section 5.16 – a section created for the EMS Risk Review as Natural England (NE) was commissioned by Defra to undertake a strategic review of the risks from all ongoing activities within European Marine Sites (EMS).

Chapter 7 – Managing the Shoreline

This chapter has been completely rewritten and is divided into three main areas under the headings:

Climate Change and Sea Level Rise

Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management

Shoreline Management Plans (SMPs)

Other Section changes

Section 8.2.1 – this section refers to the fishery within the Harbour and slight amendments have been made specifically concerning information with regards to demonstrating no adverse effect of the fishery on the SPA and Ramsar interests of the site.

Section 9.5.2 – updated information on the progress of the Sediment Management Plan dredging process.

Section 11.1 – slight amendments have been made to this section with regards to channel deepening and the construction of the bridge.

Section 14.2 – the reference to the Swash Channel Wreck has been updated to include further information on the wreck.

Management Matrix

The Matrix has been reorganised and reworded. The 41 activities still remain but the ordering has been changed and the layout has been simplified to make it more readable and understandable.

Appendices

Appendix 2 – the Environment Agency has changed their summary of their organisation.

Appendix 9 – MMO added as a new glossary term.

Appendix 10 – Poole Harbour Monitoring Strategy added to the list of supporting documents.

Appendix 12 – New appendices with contact details for the lead authorities referred to in the

Management Matrix.

Appendix 13 – New appendices … Draft Site plan for the Poole Harbour European marine site.